Responding to Holocaust Denial

Respectful Insolence is handling vacation by reprinting selected older posts, which included a post on Holocaust deniers. The author at Respectful Insolence describes in detail his exposure to Holocaust denial and reached this conclusion:

Over that time, I learned some of the techniques deniers used to downplay the Holocaust, deflect blame from its perpetrators, or portray “exaggeration” of the Holocaust as a Jewish plot. I also learned that, without exception (at least, without any exception I’ve yet seen), Holocaust denial derived from anti-Semitism and/or an admiration for the fascist regime of Adolf Hitler.

After continuing the lengthy discussion, he concludes:

So, today, as memorials to the murdered are held and speeches made, I urge everyone to take a moment and reflect upon the evil that humans are capable of. But, more importantly, reflect upon what each of us might do to prevent it from happening again, particularly since the march of time will soon lead to the disappearance of those who were there, still remember, and can remind us of what happened. One way that I choose to honor the memory of the dead is by doing what little I can to refute those who would, for their own racist or ideological reasons, deny the crimes of those who killed them. To that end, from time to time, I will post articles here refuting specific distortions and lies of Holocaust deniers and doing my small part to help out the Holocaust History Project. In the grand scheme of things, it is not that much. But it is what I can do.

As I’m spending the holiday weekend using resort WiFi to primarily catch the major stories with limited viewing of the blogoshpere, I missed this post until I saw it mentioned at The Lippard Blog during a brief look at the blogoshere when it started getting rather chilly around the pool this far north. I found that Jim Lippard has a view similar to mine in responding to crack pot ideas which are gaining prominence on the internet (including the blog I left to form Liberal Values). He defends responding to Holocaust denial, with the same logic applying to several other topics:

This posting led to a short debate with science writer Andrew Skolnick, who strongly disagreed with me–his opinion was that Holocaust deniers should get nothing but ridicule, and no one should bother trying to respond to them. I think this is the wrong approach to Holocaust denial, the wrong approach to creationism, the wrong approach to 9/11 conspiracy theories, and the wrong approach to Scientology, for reasons I give below. I do agree that it can be a bad idea to give advocates of crackpottery wider exposure or a respectable forum, but there are plenty of fora on the Internet and elsewhere where these bad ideas should be responded to with good and accurate information.

23 Comments

  1. 1
    Pamela Leavey says:

    Ron

    WTF are you talking about? No one on the Dem Daily denies the Holocaust. So much for working together still – you are making false assertions here and you know damn well that you are.

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    Pamela,

    No one at the Dem Daily denied the Holocaust, and I did not say anyone did, but you sure opposed my comments crticial of Holocaust deniers and trivialized the topic, just as you shut down criticism of Mel Gibson (while letting right wingers support him) and shut down and every other subject you disagreed with me on.

    It is not enough to admit that the Holocaust occured. Holocaust deniers should be condemned and you acting as an apologist for anti-Semiitism is inexcusable.

  3. 3
    Pamela Leavey says:

    Ron

    From time to time old threads have been closed for SPAM, something you were well aware of. Other than that only one thread was ever “shut down” on the Dem Daily, after the discussion advocated violence. No one stopped anyone from criticizing Mel Gibson, however, as the owner of the Dem Daily, I reserve the right to close a thread that advocates violence towards anyone no matter how vile the person might be. Furthermore, I did NOT oppose your comments critical of Holocaust deniers, I stated frequently that Gibson’s actions and words were wrongminded, while also explaining alcholism and abusive behavior.

  4. 4
    kj says:

    omg, i’m going to have to channel Diana Ross. secure the china…

    *ahem*
    *cough*

    *mmmmmmmm .. mmmmmm”

    *ummmmmmmmmmm”

    A one anda two anda…
    “STOP! in the name of love
    before I something, something

    STOP, in the name of love
    before something something

    think it ooooo ver
    do doo doo doooo do do”

  5. 5
    kj says:

    thank you, thank you veddy much… šŸ˜‰

  6. 6
    Dave from Princeton says:

    I must say I’m very impressed kj. I had no idea what a great singer you were. What a voice! šŸ˜‰

  7. 7
    kj says:

    Thank you, Dave. *blush*
    Of course, in my own mind, I’m a cross between Janis, Aretha and Ella. Why the rest of the world refuses to hear the greatness emanating like a river of liquid gold and silver and boulders of quartz from these vocal cords, I have no idea. It makes me so sad. *sniff*

    Quartz I tell you, quartz.

  8. 8
    Dave from Princeton says:

    “Of course, in my own mind, Iā€™m a cross between Janis, Aretha and Ella.”

    Ah, a legend in your own mind. Bravo kj!

    Since I know you I’m expecting front row seats to your first concert. One question though. Whenever you sing is that when JBK also seems to decide it’s time for a basement cigar session? I guess I really need to talk to JBK for enlightenment on that “coincidence”, if there is one.

  9. 9
    Ron Chusid says:

    kj,

    I definately did put a stop to this, and was not going to allow another argument in which Pamela uses Dave’s rant, or my quoting Gibson, as justification for her censoring what I was writing. A secondary reason for moving here was getting away from those arguments. I let her do it once here, and will not make that mistake again.

  10. 10
    kj says:

    Well Dave, there is always the story about JBK buying me a set of drums. (We hadn’t been married very long.) (And, he might have been hoping the drums would drown out the sound of my voice, I dunno.) But I think he’d be open to any excuse for a cigar session. šŸ™‚ The basement cave is definately guys only ground.

    Hey by the way, JBK almost posted here the other day. I showed him the posts by kids (at least I assumed they were kids) talking about teaching ID in science classes. He really wanted to answer them!

  11. 11
    kj says:

    Ron, good. Being in the middle of these things isn’t nearly as fun as being in the middle of a good neocon bash. šŸ™‚

  12. 12
    Ron Chusid says:

    kj,

    Bashing neocons is of value as they have a significant influence on government policy. Arguments based upon nonsense posted for the sake of argument are of no signifcance.

  13. 13
    Dave from Princeton says:

    JBK almost posted? I figured he wasn’t allowed to. Well if he ever does, I hope you tell him that in the liberal blogosphere he’s already known as JBK, so he’s stuck with that name to use šŸ˜‰

    Hmm, was that the ID thread with the 3 different pro-ID posters all using the same name? Uh oh, I was talking smack about JBK on that one… šŸ™‚

  14. 14
    Ron Chusid says:

    Yes, JBK should have brought some reality to those pro-ID posters.

  15. 15
    kj says:

    He was told that his handle was already created, all he had to do was log-in. Which he would have done, if he wasn’t so busy trying to find gainful employment. I’m trying to talk him into writing a blog or two re: all the science controversaries.

    But if he does post, he’s not allowed to talk about me. Especially none of his stories, that are complete fiction, about me talking on and on without any (obvious to him!) connection to whatever the subject matter is. There is always a connection. It’s just sometimes a distant connection, seventh cousin twice removed kind of connection.

  16. 16
    Ron Chusid says:

    kj,

    We will watch what he says to make sure none of those fictitious stories about you is posted.

  17. 17
    kj says:

    Ron,

    I’m counting on you!

  18. 18
    Ron Chusid says:

    kj,

    Just list the typical lying phrases he uses and we’ll add them to the screens for the mod que.

  19. 19
    kj says:

    LOL I’ll start a list of them now… šŸ˜‰

  20. 20
    Dave from Princeton says:

    Damn, she didn’t fall for it. Thanks for trying Ron…

    Now now kj. I’m sure their can’t be any embarrasing true stories to tell about you. So if he ever did, just rest assured we’d all know JBK was making them up!

  21. 21
    Ron Chusid says:

    Dave,

    Keep quiet and don’t tip her off. She said she’s starting a list. . .

  22. 22
    Dave from Princeton says:

    Oh, damn!

  23. 23
    kj says:

    Sheesh! And I trusted you guys!

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